Tuesday, 11 August 2009

Dancing Knights

Knight endings might not be the hardest or the trickiest endings (treating them like King and Pawn endings make them easier to think about), but they can be the most frustrating. When you have the extra pawn your opponent often finds a way to sacrifice the knight for it, but when the situation is reversed it seems so much harder.One way to win these kind of endings is to get your opponent to help you. Of course they won't do it on purpose, but if you cross your fingers and wish real hard, you just might get lucky.Here is Ian Rogers v Bellotti from 1987. It is Black to move and he has a number of squares to put the knight on and hold the draw (g6,d5 or g8 are all good). Instead he plays the fatal 1. ... Nf5 and after 2.Nd4! Ne7 3.Kd8! he finds himself zugged. No matter where he goes his knight gets corned by the other knight.